I should have started writing this a few weeks ago before i started working toward the resolution of my thesis question, but i got excited about what i was working on and didn’t. So I’m starting now.
My proposed question was: “To what extent is Visual Culture used in Transmedia Storytelling in Disney Parks?” - simply put ‘How do the team behind the creating Disney theme parks, use Graphic Design within the worlds they create?.
I think the first thing to do is to break the question into it’s constituent pieces and then create plans of action based on those sub categories.
Imagineering - This is the name of the company that creates everything a guest see’s within a Disney park. I need to start by researching this company. Outline their history, why they were created, company hierarchy, where graphic designer sit within the structure and what that company structure is. It is also important to understand who they outsource to, who outsources to them and what they do outside of the theme park industry.
Process - The primary method of doing this is reading. There are a lot of books, both official and unofficial that discuss the methods and work of Imagineers. There are also a number of documentaries, again official and unofficial that discuss this. I also want to reach out to people who work there and try to get some dialogue happening about the project. I think this may by one of the harder parts of the project as WDI are notoriously cagey about giving away secrets and I’m sure people would be nervous about talking to me if it would endanger their job.
Visual Culture - I touched on this in the proposal stage of my work, but i need to go deeper into the subject and learn as much as i can about it. It’s history, it’s processes, the key players and the disputes amongst them. This again will be done through lots of reading, watching and making.
Case Studies - In my proposal i outlined the way i would produce case studies about specific areas, stores, attractions or lands within the Disney parks. The brief version of this in the proposal was based on what i thought this should look like, but i know need to research how this could or should be done academically.
Upskilling - there are many things used within the creative process of WDI that i want to upskill myself in in order to better relate to the process and fundamentally inform my case studies of the their work. The main ones of these are: Sign writing, colour theory and typography. I’m sure more will come up the more i work on this and they will be addressed as i do. One other that comes to mind is poster creation.
Discourse - one area that proved difficult to research during the proposal stage of this project was the other side of the argument. I am a self identified Disney nerd and I’m aware that i have biases when it comes to the parks. It’s important that i research the people and their ideas who feel the opposite to me to get a better understanding of the area as a whole. The issue i came up against was that there is a lot of discourse when it comes to The Walt Disney company, especially within their feature films. Racism and sexism are rife within them and no one could argue that they aren’t. But I’m not looking to research their media output. There is obviously a link between the parks and the films, but that’s not what is interesting to me. So i need to do a deep dive into actual works of writing about why people don’t like that parks. Not just ‘it was expensive and my kids went crazy’ which is what most blogs subscribe to.
I am more than aware that i am doing exactly what i was told not to do, which is to start this project before September, but i have a lot of reading to do and i am a very slow reader. I have some of these books to hand and so i want to get them out of the way so to speak. Just so i can get moving with other areas as soon as possible.